Doctor - a zigzag journey

Part 33 - The Challenges in Australia Begin

Background: 2003 – 2005 (Age 36 - 38 years)

In the midst of a financial dilemma, I was fortunate to receive help from my second brother and his wife.

"We lend you this money to help part of your university fees," my second brother said and handed a cheque to me.

I received the cheque with deep gratitude. It was their saving for the education of their children. The hard-earned money could provide me an opportunity to realize my ambition. I borrowed the money and I was committed to returning it as soon as I got a job upon graduation. I must do my very best to find several casual jobs while studying medicine to earn the remaining of the university fees and my living expenses. More importantly, I must complete the study and pass all examinations in order to qualify for a medical degree and become a doctor.

In preparing my journey to Australia, I contacted a few Malaysian medical students who were completing their medical degree at the University of Queensland (UQ) i.e. Fabian, Eunice, and Yaw. They provided me information about the study and living environment in Australia and helped me in sorting out my first accommodation.

I packed my luggage. Ah Ma came into my room to help.

"Take this thick jumper with you as the winter could be very cold," she said as she handed a heavy jumper to me. She had freckles and wrinkles on her arthritic hands and face. The hands and face of a 74-year old loving mother who worked hard in her entire life. I could appreciate the tremor in her voice and hands. My mind flashed back to the day I said: "Goodbye, Sungai Siput" in 1988 (Part 14 in this memoir). Over a span of 15 years, she aged noticeably.

"Don't worry, I will look after myself," I reassured her.

"Call home when you reach Australia," she reminded with a tremor in her voice.

"I will. Brothers and sisters are close to you in Malaysia. You shall look after yourself too," I said with a tremor in my voice too. The tremor in her voice was contagious.

She nodded and staggered off the room.

*****

It was a summer in Australia. After an 8-hour flight, I arrived Brisbane in the morning. After loading my heavy luggage into the boot of a cab, I showed the taxi driver a piece of paper with the address of my destination. I sat in the passenger seat next to the driver. The sunlight shone through the windscreen and was glaring in my eyes. I forgot to bring my sunglasses. I felt that I might have forgotten to bring other stuff as well. And I would realize more challenges as I settled in this completely new environment. I was out of my comfort zone again, for the second time after my "venture" to Singapore 15 years ago. In the glare, I could not reckon many of the signage. I relied on the cab driver to take me to my destination.

"Here you go, mate," the cab driver pulled over on a small street.

"Thank you," I replied and gave him a taxi fare.

Knock, knock.

A short-hair young lady opened the door and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

She was a Chinese girl with a fair skin and soft voice.

"Is Fabian home?" I asked and was worried that I was knocking on the wrong unit.

"Oh, wrong unit. Fabian is living in the other unit," she replied.

"I'm sorry. My name is KC. Nice to meet you," I said embarrassingly.

"I'm Min," she replied and pointed me to the right direction.

I met Fabian, Yaw, and later Eunice and others over the days. My first request to Fabian was to take me to a phone shop to set up a mobile phone service.

"You can call home using my mobile phone first, I will take you to a phone shop and show you around later," Fabian offered his assistance.

I called home to inform Ah Ma and my siblings that I had arrived safely in Australia. I hung up after a brief conversation as I was worried about spending too much money on the phone. I wished to pay Fabian some money for the phone call.

"You don't need to pay me for this, we are friends," he declined to receive the money.

I was fortunate to have helpful friends. I settled in my shared accommodation with another Malaysian medical student. Sometimes we shared cooking. Occasionally we went out to have meals in an Asian store.

One day, I met Eunice. She had a lot of medical textbooks and reference books. She was kind to lend a few books to me. Also, she was and is always a caring person.

"KC, I give you this mosquito coil," Eunice offered me a small gadget which I had not seen before.

"No need la," I replied in a Malaysian slang that ended with a 'la'.

"Need la, a lot of mosquitoes especially in summer," she replied in a Malaysian slang too.

"Thank you lor," I said with gratitude and the usual Malaysian slang ended with a 'lor'.

*****

My first rotation was surgery and I was assigned to a urology team in the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Attending tutorial classes and ward rounds, observing the surgical operation, holding a retractor during an operation, doing simple suturing, and visiting the post-op patients, were my routines.

"KC, get permission from the patient and check his prostate," Dr. Ngo instructed.

"Sure," I replied in anticipation that there was a significant pathology in the patient that Dr. Ngo would like me to learn.

"Mr. X, I am KC, a medical student from UQ. Can I perform a physical examination on you please?" I spoke politely.

The patient was in his seventy and he looked at me awaiting a further explanation from me.

"The examination is in your back passage. You will use this cover sheet to cover yourself from your waist downward, pull your underwear down, lie on your left side, bend your knees and bring them up close to your body and curl up like a prawn. "

I paused for a second. We maintained eye-contact.

"I will wear a pair of glove,  apply lubricant around your back passage and on my gloved finger, then I will gently insert my finger into the back passage to examine it and the prostate," I explained slowly as I looked at his face. I was worried that he might say 'no' to an inexperienced medical student.

He nodded! And that was my first experience examining and feeling an enlarged prostate which was later proven a prostate cancer after the operation. I remembered one of my professors said that "a medical doctor is given the permission to perform a physical examination with trust from the patient, don't lose the trust." I agree with the advice and swear by it.

I spent the afternoon in the surgical ward seeing post-op patients. A nursing student, Aris, came to me.

"I'm Aris, I wish to study medicine too," he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. I'm KC," I replied, "I can share my experience with you."

"Nice. I'm working in a nursing home," he said.

"I would like to work too," I was excited to know he got a job.

"I'm a AIN," he said.

"What?" I slightly raised my voice as I didn't understand what AIN meant.

"Oh, it means assistant in nursing. Here is a phone number that you can call to find out any vacancy," he explained and handed me a small piece of paper with a phone number.

"Thanks!" I replied and kept the paper in my wallet in which cash was scarce.

============

Notable quote:

"Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey."
― Roy T. Bennett.